Save in his arms
by EatChocolate
Summary: "'Dancing like the druids?" He picked up another one "'Devilish dancing skills?" and another "'Dancing under the moonlight'." Sirius laughed almost hysterically. "Well, you should keep that one!" - Sirius gives the others a dance lesson. Wolfstar!


_Secret Santa for Leah (iship-everything tumblr)_

_MERRY CHRISTMAS! I hope you like it ;A;_

_Prompt: Wolfstar at Hogwarts before they were together_

* * *

It was a wonderful white December day, but instead of ice skating or snowball fights, Remus had to pay an unplanned visit to the library. Now laden with at least thirteen books, Remus stumbled across the hallways, trying to make his way to the Gryffindor tower. He couldn't see much of the fat lady, since the hundreds of pages, he carried with him, obscured his view, but he could hear her perfectly and so he answered the only possible answer to the always same question.

"Fugiens Scopa" The door opened.

"There he is." James said the same second he entered the common room.

"Where the hell have you been? You said you would join us at the lake after the prefect meeting is over." Sirius stated right away, but Remus didn't answer nor was he greeting his friends. He rushed to the dorm and without a word he threw all the books on his bed.

"Wow, that's a lot. Sirius seems to be right. You're reading too much Remus." Phil said, a small chuckle slipping through his lips.

"Oh, hey Phil. Didn't saw you there." Before Remus could continue, the remaining Marauders stormed into the dormitory.

"Hey - Woah, what's all that? Do we have like a hundred essays I missed?" Sirius asked with wide eyes on the books and went straight to Remus' bed to pick one of them up. "'Dancing like the druids'?" He picked up another one "'Devilish dancing skills'?" and another "'Dancing under the moonlight'." Sirius laughed almost hysterically. "Well, you should keep that one!"

James joined his friend's laughter, while Remus threw a quick glance at Phil, before he turned his attention back to the other books on his bed. Fortunately Phil didn't seem to find anything suspicious and just shared a smile with the rest of them.

"So, what's that all about? What gave you the sudden urge to dance?" Sirius asked sincerely and with great curiosity, but still couldn't get rid of his broad grin, when he threw the books back from where he grabbed them.

"The prefect meeting. We got Dumbledore's okay for the Christmas ball." Remus answered shortly and with slight bitterness along the words.

"Christmas ball?" Phil and Peter asked simultaneously, while James and Sirius darted a glance at each other.

"That's a good thing, isn't it? Sounds like fun. I mean that you obviously can't dance isn't that big of a deal, right?" Sirius asked his friend, who noticed the slight concern in the question.

"No. Well, I don't know. Kind of." Remus sighed. "I don't want to embarrass myself."

"Why did you agree with it then, if you're obviously uncomfortable with it? You're a prefect too now. You could have said something." Sirius raises an eyebrow and looks at his friend questioningly.

"Everyone was so happy about it. They're really looking forward to this ball. I just didn't want to ruin it for them." Remus answered in thought of the meeting.

"You're such a people pleaser, Moony. Screw them. If they want to dance around their crushes, they can do it in their free time - just like Prongs here. They don't have to force the whole school into doing so."

"HEY – I'm not _dancing_ around Lily! I'm showing her what a catch I am _in a totally manly way_, thank you very much!"

Sirius grinned widely "Whatever you say Prongs." He clapped his friend on the shoulder and continued. "Not that I would complain about that whole ball thing anyway. Who do you guys think is the hottest girl in Hogwarts right now? That question doesn't aim for you mate." Sirius pointed to his best friend, who just shrugged as in showing him what an awesome answer he would miss, before he smiled at his other half.

"Hm … I don't know. I guess Alice is beautiful."

"Alice? You mean the same Alice as in future Alice Longbottom?" Sirius pondered on it without giving too much sarcasm away just yet. "Yeah I could do that I guess, if I wanted to commit suicide, Peter. Frank would kill me. Despite that, she is not my type."

"What about Hestia Jones? She is cute." Peter tried anew.

"Yeah, but she is a third year. She isn't allowed to participate in the Christmas ball, only fourth years and up." Remus objected casually, while already opening one of his books.

Sirius sighed loudly. "And what are you doing now - learning how to dance with the help of a book that can't even move on its own? That sounds very helpful."

Remus just wanted to retort, when Sirius already spoke again.

"Or do you think that the words you're going to read would just turn you into an excellent dancer? Do you remember those enchanted dancing shoes James tried last year on the Halloween ball?"

Sirius chuckled at the memory of this and earned an angry glance from his best friend.

"That was a disaster. Most people took it lightly though, since we were fourth years – the nervousness of the first ball and so on." Peter remembered as well and Sirius laughed even harder.

"People took it lightly, because it was hilarious, Peter!" Sirius explained his friend.

"Okay, okay enough already. We never wanted to mention it again and I learned of it. No enchanted dance shoes – huh." James paused and looked at his feet instead.

"Give me one of those books!" James took one from Remus and delved into it, what just caused Sirius' barking laugh to start filling the room anew.

"What's wrong with you guys?" Sirius asked in between barking laughs.

"Moony is right, Padfoot. I can't embarrass myself in front of Lily." James explained.

"What, you mean like last year?" James punched Sirius on the arm, before concentrating on the book again.

"Okay, fine." Sirius said, a wide smile playing on his face. "Phil, you're going to give me a hand here?"

"Sorry, as fun as it sounds, I have to finish this essay and now additional to that, I have to ask Adelaide out to the ball, before I pick up Ben from Ravenclaw's Quidditch practice. See you guys later - or not – you're never in the dorm, when I come back in the evening."

With that Phil left the room, leaving three desperate and one highly amused Marauder behind.

"What do you need Phil for anyway, Pads?" Peter asked curiously.

"To teach you lot how to dance of course. You will learn nothing from a book and as luck would have it, I'm excellent in dancing."

Everyone was looking at Sirius now.

"Is that just another of your many natural talents? Is there anything you can't do? Your life must be easy, huh?" Remus said slightly annoyed, but the bigger part of him was more than just a bit grateful.

_Well, I couldn't convince my parents that I don't want those stupid dance lessons with this harsh and impatient git of an arrogant pureblood, who didn't give me a break once. _But Sirius decided not to say that out loud, instead he just played along and with a swing of his wand he frees the centre of the dorm from unwanted things.

"My dear Moony, you should know the answer by now, shouldn't you? Obviously there is nothing that I can't do!"

James, who abandoned the books at the same second that Sirius announced himself a dancer, decided to join the play.

"HA! Should we make you a list Padfoot?" He made his way to the area, which his friend had just cleaned. "Things, even the great Sirius Black can't do. Point number one: Pay attention in History of Magic. Point number two: …"

"Be silent for longer than a minute." Remus added and Peter followed. "And point number three: Read a book from the first page to its last without skipping some of them."

"Be nice to Severus Snape." Remus said.

"That's not a fair point. You can't expect any sane person to do that." James interjected and Remus rolled his eyes.

"Catch his tail." Peter suggested a new point.

"Hey! I can do that!" Sirius defended himself, but everyone burst out in laughter.

"Yeah or get rid of his flees." James added.

"Okay, okay enough! Do you want me to teach you now or should I just cancel our friendship?" Sirius sulked, trying to protect his ego.

The other three calmed down. All of them wanted to learn how to dance.

Remus was getting nervous. He was a terrible dancer, but it shouldn't be that bad with Sirius as teacher, right?

"Okay let's start with the basics then." Sirius announced and everyone gathered in the middle of the dorm. Sirius takes out his wand and transfigures one of Remus dance books into a record player.

'Basics sound good' Remus thought to himself. 'Basics sound easy enough.'

Basics weren't easy at all as the three of them had to acknowledge.

Remus was dancing with James - well, as long as you were optimistic enough to call it _dancing_.

They should just move their feet to the beats and count their steps, but he couldn't even tell, who of them was worse.

While Remus was constantly staying on his friend's feet instead of the floor, James was so concentrated on where to move that he always forgot to pay attention to the beats and that led for both of them to dance a complete different dance than the other.

Far more distracting for Remus was the fact that he was looking right into the direction of Sirius and Peter. He couldn't concentrate on where to move, because for some reason, he just wasn't able to look away. Sirius looked rather graceful, when he danced and Remus was wondering the whole time how he did that. How did Sirius manage to make dancing look so graceful?

After another disastrous step, both, James and he, lay on the floor - again.

They got back on their feet and kept watching their friends. Sirius said that he could dance, but even Peter seemed to get the hang of it. James stood there open mouthed and Remus wondered how the hell the both of them could be so far behind.

Sirius was showing Peter totally different dance moves than he showed them.

"Hey that's more than just counting steps. Why do we have to count steps, while Peter is actually learning how to dance?" James burst out Remus' thoughts.

Sirius stopped in his movements and watched his best friend's frustration grow with amusement.

"That's because Wormtail is actually quite talented in dancing. He learns simply faster than the two of you."

James mouth fell open again. He didn't expect to hear that out loud and retorted instantly.

"Well, why the hell are you still dancing with him then? Come over and help _us_!" Sirius laughed, but stepped over anyway.

"Peter, give me a hand here. Go and help Prongs."

When the music started anew, Sirius stood right in front of Remus and put one hand on the small of Remus' back to pull him closer.

They stand chest to chest now, but all Remus could concentrate on was Sirius' other hand, who entangled his own. Remus gasped and looked up immediately, his eyes widened what Sirius didn't take any further notice of though.

"Concentrate on the beat. Take one step to every beat. – Dum, dum, dum, dum – dum, dum, dum, dum – One, two, three, four …" Sirius voice was quiet, almost a whisper and by far too close to his face.

Remus wanted to concentrate on the music or the steps or where to put his feet, but somehow his head was still swimming from the proximity of his and Sirius' bodies and the sound of Sirius voice, when he almost whispered in his ear.

He heard the refrain for the third time. The son was nearly at its end and Remus realised nothing of it. He noticed that he wasn't stumbling as much as with James, but he couldn't tell why. He doesn't fully realise where he is moving or the amount of steps he took. He gave Sirius the lead and was simply following him automatically. It felt safe enough in his arms to do so.

Remus took a shaky breath, trying to get rid of those thoughts and to concentrate on the dance and count his steps, "One, two, …" but in that moment Sirius spun him around, just to pull him right back against his chest.

Remus escaped a laugh and Sirius chuckled at that.

"See, you're not that bad of a dancer." Sirius said, tightening the grip on Remus' hip slightly.

Remus only felt his racing heart, but couldn't tell where it came from.

"Ouch! James, you have to be more careful!" Peter shouted through the room and Sirius stopped in his movements, bringing Remus to stop as well, still standing chest to chest.

"I didn't do anything. " James exclaimed and Sirius started to chuckle again. "Wait Wormy, I'll save you from Prongs' ungrateful feet!"

Sirius let go of Remus and stepped towards James. Remus felt cold at once. All the heat from Sirius' body, so close to his own, was gone and all of a sudden he felt like something was missing. It felt weird and Remus couldn't comprehend what was happening.

It felt so different from dancing with James, but he couldn't put his finger on it.

He wasn't counting his steps; he didn't really thought about where to put his feet. It just felt good. He had fun and he felt safe.

"So, you're ready?" Remus looked away from Sirius, who was still talking to James and saw Peter right in front of him.

Remus nodded and both placed their hands in the right positions. It was weird though. Not bad weird and not uncomfortable, but not the same. It was like dancing with James, but not like dancing with Sirius.

What's different about dancing with Sirius?

He couldn't quite put his finger on it. Maybe it was just that Sirius actually could dance.

As a new song started Remus and Peter began to dance. Remus was concentrated on the music, his steps and on where to put his feet again and also Peter seemed more focused on what he was doing than Sirius was.

So that's it then. It was different to dance with Sirius, because Sirius can dance and you can let yourself fall right into it.

After the second song it became easier. Remus' attention wandered to Sirius and James. They were both dancing just as close as Sirius did with him and also James seemed to get the hang of it now. So he wouldn't embarrass himself in front of Lily, but somehow he couldn't be happy for his friend though. Something was bothering him right now.

"Hey what do you guys think of Jennifer Johnson? She's pretty hot." Sirius asked loudly all of a sudden.

"Jennifer Johnson? That seventh year Hufflepuff girl?" Peter answered with another question.

"She's on Hufflepuff's Quidditch team, right? Yeah she's a ten out of ten, mate." James said.

"She is a seventh year. I doubt that she would go with someone two years younger than her. Also she is a pretty responsible and honest person. She knows what she wants. She is not a one-time snog!" Remus exclaimed harsher than he meant to.

Sirius looked straight in his eyes and Remus heart skipped a beat. What the hell.

"Yeah. I guess you're right." Sirius thought about it. "Well, let's see if that can be changed! I bet I can get her to go to the ball with me." Sirius grinned widely and immediately sunk into plan making with James. They still danced for the next thirty seconds, before they sat down on James' bed.

Remus felt like someone had punched him in the stomach and stopped in his movements.

So that's the end of the lesson then, huh?

'Well maybe Sirius will give him another one later.' He thought. He wanted to dance with Sirius again. He liked that feeling. Sirius always had a way to make him feel safe and to make him laugh all at once.

Just like the countless times, when he woke up in the hospital wing after the full moon and the first thing he saw were his three friends. They were all there to comfort him, but Sirius is always the first one to joke about it – about the night before or the mornings after. It always made him calm down and he couldn't start to relax before the first joke left his friend's lips.

Or all the times, when he lacked the money to buy important school stuff, Honeyduke's chocolate or just some random things from Zonko's and Sirius would start a stupid bet, always to the same stakes. He would offer some of his family's money and he would charge some essays to copy from his friend. Remus could tell that Sirius always lost them on purpose to be able to pay for him without hurting his dignity.

"Oh Merlin, I would sell my soul to touch that lips. Do you know when Hufflepuff has the next Quidditch training?" He heard Sirius ask.

Remus froze and anger rose in his chest.

What's wrong with him? Why does it bother him, who Sirius is going to ask to the ball and with whom he wants to snog the whole night?

Why was he happy for James now, but not a minute ago, when he was dancing with- Oh Merlin, please don't.

No, that couldn't be. He definitely has no crush on one of his best friends - definitely not.

He didn't, did he?

Peter also joined the other two on James' bed, while Remus left the dorm to take a walk.


End file.
